My mom’s neighbor has a 1999 Olds Cutlass and claims that when she bought it you could not buy a car with a gearshift on the steering column. I am willing to grant that this may have been true for the Cutlass with bucket seats, but certainly not a universal. Any support – especially references to photos – will be greatly appreciated!

(This started when my mom was telling said neighbor about another friend who currently has “pseudo gout” in her wrist, and was so grateful that her gearshift was on the column – which said neighbor responded was impossible.)

I’m pretty sure at that point you could get a Toyota Avalon with a column shift and a bench seat, although they were hard to find. I am also pretty sure some Buick models had them at that point. Also the Honda CR-V’s had them, as did plenty of other minivans and SUV’s.